Penrith 66 West 15

By Dave Picken - February 25 2018

Our away woes continue with a ten try thrashing at new league leaders Penrith. The cause wasn't helped by injuries and unavailability for a number of leading players with team selection only finalised on Saturday morning.

The team which did make it to Winters Park produced plenty of fight and enjoyed a fair share of possession, but when Penrith's pacy back division turned on the afterburners we had no answer. We started well - camping on the home line and forcing several penalties with Gavin Painter opting for a drop goal rather than a formal shot at goal. But that lead was to last only a matter of seconds as the restart kick was fumbled allowing No 8 Michael Raine the opportunity to gather and gallop in under the posts. Matt Allinson's conversion was the first of many, and he was in action again after eight minutes when fly half Ross Jackson cruised a through a gap in the West cover. With less than ten minutes on the clock we were already 14-3 down. It quickly got worse as left winger Brad Taylor went over on the quarter hour mark. We did rally forcing Penrith to defend desperately on their line. Andrew Rollins, once again leading from the front, did get over but referee Martin Maughan came round to rule the ball had been held up. Penrith lost second row John Dent to the sin bin as we continued to press with Adam Peacock putting a foot in touch as he went for the corner. However, the pressure eventually paid off with Gavin Painter making a ten metre break to find Scott Butcher in support. His try reduced the arrears to 21-10. We were still in the game at this point only to be hit by two quick tries just before the break. The Penrith pack was having the better of the scrums and mauls and drove us back into our 22 with skipper Ryan Painter deliberately pulling the maul down. While he was having an enforced rest second row Dan Richardson and scrum half George Graham both scored tries. Allinson adding one conversion to give the home side a commanding 33-10 lead at the break. The half time team talk spurred us on and we enjoyed another good spell of pressure only to come up against a well organised and determined home defence Andy Turner almost got over only to knock on as he hit the line at pace. However, there was no denying winger Adam Peacock his first try in league rugby when he was sent in at the corner after a break on the short side of a ruck 15 metres out. Sadly, that was the end of the West revival as the home side set about racking up another five tries through speedy full back Jamie McNaughton, replacement second row Will Morgan, second row John Dent, and a brace for 17 year old winger Olly May.

Big game at Cleckheaton next week -snow permitting - and let's hope the coaches are given the opportunity of being able to select from a more settled squad.

Is that right we had two subs who never got on the pitch?
Also not sure what to make of the Penrith match report which says - The relegation threatened North East club were always in the game and enjoyed by far the majority of possession but unlike Penrith were unable to turn it into points. The home side when in possession were both clinical and very pacey behind the scrum.

The Penrith report echoes pretty much what I said in our match report.
As fas as replacements are concerned both Dan Quinn and James Tyers were late call-ups with Dan even driving himself to Penrith because he had to be back early. I think both were asked in the second half if they wanted a run out and, no doubt, would have gone on in the case of injury.

Yes, DP's report is an accurate reflection of the match; it;s hard to visualise I know, due to the massive points differential but that's pretty much as it happened.

In summary this game came down to % of possession converted into Converted Tries.

We looked really good with the ball but not so good without it. Saying that, this is a really good Penrith Squad - I've watched them a few times now; great No 9 running the game and they really work hard to get players into supporting positions so their moves seldom break down.

Equally, in defence they really work for each other and the majority of the time are making 2 on 1 tackles meaning they get a lot of turnovers and scrum put ins.

Aerobic fitness is also a factor - if you cant keep running you cant hurt anyone.

Best Team in the league in my view - by a Cumbrian Country Mile - they tend to be the equivalent as about 3 of ours 'cos of the Ups & Downs :-)

Hmm defence coach?
Interesting given we have shipped 618 points this season, only Percy Park and Northern have had more put past them at 622 each.
Im not sure what the philosophy has been this season regarding structure and play but the points against clearly indicates our defence hasn't been very good at all this season.
Im fully aware that numbers and being unable to field a lot of senior players for big parts of the season does have a huge impact and some people may see that as the main reason for a lot of our results, but surely players we bring in should realistically be able to transition into the team already knowing calls, moves and defensive structures.
Is it something that is worked on from Academy upwards or First team down.....are all senior teams including potentially from u16 using the same moves, calls and attacking/defensive structures......Or does each team just do their own thing??
I would think or even hope that there is a process in place that covers this and ensures that players moving up teams/squads are able to do so seamlessly without having to learn everything over again which does take time.........and can impact on their confidence and those around them?

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